Mumbai attacks: SC expresses relief over exposure of falsehood

New Delhi, Aug 29 (IANS) Referring to the “deception” and “falsehood” that the terrorists involved in Mumbai attacks were Indian Muslims from Hyderabad, the Supreme Court Wednesday said that had Kasab not been caught alive, terrorists might have passed as Indians and that would have led to devastating short-term and long-term consequences.

“The deception, the falsehood that the terrorists were Indian Muslims coming from Hyderabad and were connected with some fictitious organisations called Mujaheddin and Hyderabad Deccan, is one of the most ominous and distressing parts of the conspiracy”, said the apex court bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice C.K. Prasad, which upheld Ajmal Kasab’s death sentence.

“If the appellant (Kasab) had not been caught alive and the investigating agencies had not been able to unravel the conspiracy fully and in all its devious ways, the terrorists might have passed as Indian Muslims and that would have led to devastating short-term and equally debilitating long-term consequences.”

“It would have caused a cleavage of distrust and suspicion between communities and disturbed the communal peace and harmony of the country. It is not impossible that conflagrations would have erupted in different parts of the country which the governments would have found difficult to contain,” said Justice Alam, who authored the judgment.

The court said that in this regard, “the selection of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) as one of the targets for carnage assumes great importance”. Trains, the judgment said, leave for many parts of the country from the CST.

Thus, as news of the carnage spread across the country through the media, travelers would start arriving in different parts of the country, some having lost their near and dear ones at the CST, some with a wounded companion and others shell-shocked by the experience of the terrorist attack, the judgment observed.

“Their first-hand, eye-witness accounts of the carnage added to reports in the print media and visuals in the electronic media could be highly inflammable and could easily evoke communal violence that would be difficult to contain,” the judgment said.

The court said that the “deception was ominous because it aimed at destabilising Indian society and its governments. But it was equally distressing for being so deeply untruthful.”

“Indian Muslims”, the judgment said “may have a long list of grievances against the establishment. Some of the grievances may be fanciful, some may be of their own making and some may be substantive”.

“Nevertheless, no Indian Muslim would even think of venting his grievance like an animal, killing, maiming and wounding innocent people; his own countrymen.”

“This is because he is not only loyal to his faith and community but equally loves his country and fellow countrymen,” the judgment underlined.